An assist grip mounted on a vehicle comprises, as shown, for example, in FIG. 1 described below: a long grip body 10; bases 11 attached to both ends of the grip body 10; clips 3 for mounting the corresponding bases 11 in mounting holes 2a formed in a vehicle-body-side panel 2; and caps 4 for covering the corresponding clips 3.
To mount the assist grip on the vehicle-body-side panel 2, the bases 11, clips 3 and caps 4 are fitted to and temporarily fixed to the grip body 10. These temporarily fixed parts are conveyed into a workshop for vehicle assembly, where they are mounted on and permanently fixed to the vehicle-body-side panel 2.
The foregoing type of assist grip, which is mounted on the vehicle-body-side panel 2 through such a temporarily fixed state, is disclosed in, for example, Jap. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2009-120119. The upper and lower drawings of FIG. 15 correspond to FIGS. 8 and 9 of Jap. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2009-120119 and show a temporarily fixed state of the assist grip. The upper and lower drawings of FIG. 16 correspond to FIGS. 12 and 13 of Jap. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2009-120119 and show a permanently fixed state of the assist grip.
As shown in FIG. 15, in the temporarily fixed assist grip 91, a clip 93 is inserted in a clip-holding hole 911b formed in a base 911. A cap 94 is inserted in an internal space defined between a pair of side walls 93e of the clip 93. The cap 94 blocks the clip-holding hole 911b and prevents separation of the clip 93 from the clip-holding hole 911b. The cap 94 is locked in a temporarily fixing lock recess 911q formed in a side wall of the base 911. The outside of the cap 94 is covered by the internal surface of a recess 910a of a grip body 910. By virtue of this, even in a case where a significant load is applied to the cap 94 in the direction of cap insertion, the cap 94 is prevented from being deformed, is kept locked in the temporarily fixing lock recess 911q, and held in the temporarily fixed position.
As shown in FIG. 16, to fix the assist grip 91 to a vehicle-body-side panel 92, the clip 93 is inserted into a mounting hole 92a formed in this panel 92 (in the first step). The recess 910a is uncovered to expose the cap 94 by turning the grip body 910 (in the second step). The cap 94 is pushed in the direction of insertion, thereby deforming the cap 94 outside and unlocking the cap 94 from the temporarily fixing lock recess 911q (in the third step). The cap 94 further advances into the internal space of the clip 93. The cap 94 is fixed in the base 911 by its being locked into a permanent fixing lock recess 911r formed in a side wall of the base 911.